How playing home, away from home, cost Harambee Stars

Harambee Stars defender Alphonse Omija dribbles past Simon Adingra of Ivory Coast during their 2026 World Cup Qualifiers match at Bingu National Stadium, Lilongwe on June 11 2024. [FKF Media]

The four dropped points by Harambee Stars in their back to back matches away from home in Lilongwe, Malawi might come to haunt their 2026 World Cup qualification dreams.

While Engin Firat’s charges were made to pay for their complacency and profligacy in the final phase in draws against Burundi (1-1) and African champions Ivory Coast (0-0), their Group F rivals Burundi and Gabon bagged maximum points to put pressure on leaders Elephants ahead of next year’s fixtures.

It was evident that there is some improvement in the Michael Olunga-led outfit on Tuesday with their compactness and tactical discipline reducing Brighton & Hove Albion’s Simon Adingra, Diakate Oumar (Stade de Reims), Franck Kessié (Al Ahli), Fofana Seko (Al-Ettifaq), Willy Boly (Nottingham Forest), Nicolas Pepe (Trabzonspor) and company to ordinary players.

But it is lack of home advantage that cost the East African nation dearly as they slipped from third spot to fourth in Group F standings (five points) following Burundi’s 3-1 win over whipping boys Seychelles and Gabon’s 3-2 comeback victory against Gambia on Tuesday night. 

Harambee Stars will travel to Gambia next year on March 19 before hosting Gabon three days later when the qualifiers return to action next year.

Kenya were forced to stage their home matches at Bingu National Stadium due to lack of a Fifa-accredited stadium in the country as both Kasarani and Nyayo Stadiums are currently under renovations in readiness for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations.

Though the government through the Ministry Sports facilitated 50 fans to Malawi, Harambee Stars captain Michael Olunga feels they would have achieved their target of garnering four points in the two fixtures if the games were held in Nairobi.

“Two points out of possible six, is a disappointment for us. This is not what we had anticipated, but I want to congratulate the boys on the maturity they showed to come back from the Burundi setback and face Ivory Coast. We are the only side that has taken a point from the African heavyweights in the group," said Olunga.

"But we really need to be more effective in the future matches and get the maximum points."

“All is not lost because first is qualifying automatically for the World Cup, and then there is a play-offs chance for the runner-up. I believe that by the time we go to play these teams, the infrastructure in Nairobi is going to be quite well and we are going to have our 12th man to push us to get the maximum points in the second phase of the campaign."

“I think we would have gotten different results if we had played these matches in Nairobi.

“Of course, the games are not easy, and Ivory Coast still have to play against the other teams and taking a point from them is something positive which maybe at the end of the campaign will be appreciated and not now

The Al Duhail man continued: “It is unfortunate that we hosted our two matches here in Malawi, we really wanted to host them at Nyayo which I believe would be full and we would have had massive support. Even Fofana Seko somehow pitied us.

“Yes, it wasn’t possible but I would like to call on the government to try and improve the infrastructure. Nyayo has been closed for quite a long time for renovation, but now we still can’t use it. I therefore urge the government to help us to fast-track the renovations so that they can be ready by September, October and November when we will be starting our crucial campaign for 2025 Afcon. It’s only six games that will be played in three months, and we really need our home support, we want our fans to come and watch this team, a young team that is really progressing and is hungry for results. I believe with proper infrastructure and good support, we will give good results.”